Assessment of Early Migration Dynamics of River-Specific Hatchery Atlantic Salmon Smolts

Abstract

Many Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar populations within the southern extent of the species’ range are at critically low abundances, while others have been extirpated. The focus of many ongoing recovery efforts is on maximizing the number of smolts that reach the ocean, where marine survival is low, primarily through hatchery supplementation and improvement of in-river hydropower system management. However, estuaries also are known to be sites of high mortality, although in many cases the correlates of this mortality are poorly characterized. We acoustically tagged hatchery smolts (n = 666) during 2001–2005 to evaluate migration performance through freshwater, estuarine, and bay reaches of the small but tidally dynamic Dennys River, Maine, USA, to investigate potential drivers contributing to low returns within the system. Migration behaviors (e.g., migration timing and tidal use) were typical for Atlantic Salmon smolts, but reversals during migration were observed upon entry into the estuary environment more frequently in this system than in regional rivers. We used Cormack–Jolly–Seber mark–recapture models to estimate apparent survival within the study environment during this period. We found two distinct periods of survival, with much lower survival in 2003–2005 than in 2001 and 2002 (more than a 40% decrease). Among the variables considered, temperature and migratory behavior had the largest effects on survival. We found that survival increased by about 28% across the range of temperatures observed during these years; additionally, survival increased by about 15% for fish that reversed direction during migration compared to fish that did not. These results indicate that extreme environmental changes during the transition through this coastal system constitute a significant obstacle to Atlantic Salmon restoration stocking efforts.

Received March 30, 2017; accepted August 7, 2017Published online October 12, 2017

Acknowledgments

We thank everyone who participated in the field components of this study. Special thanks are extended to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Green Lake National Fish Hatchery for use of facilities, monitoring of smolts, and providing several data sets. We are grateful to reviewers M. Rankawitz, G. Goulette, and R. Haas-Castro, whose insight, suggestions, and comments helped to shape the final product. Reference to trade names does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.